Comcast Cable has announced an extensive lineup of football in high-definition for the 2003 season, while The WB Television Network is more than doubling its high-definition offerings this season, with 77 percent of its total prime-time lineup coming in HD.

Comcast’s coverage will be highlighted by ABC’s Monday Night Football broadcasts in addition to regular and post season games from ABC. This includes the regular season opener, a rematch of the 2002 NFC Championship game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Comcast’s high-definition football offering will also include 18 games from ESPN.

WB veterans Smallville, Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Angel, Reba and What I Like About You, as well as a host of newcomers be presented in HD, giving WB at least part of its schedule in HD each night.

“We know that The WB has the largest concentration of upscale young adults in prime-time network television,” said Jed Petrick, The WB’s president and chief operating officer. “Those upscale young WB viewers also are early adopters of new technology. We realize how vital it is to embrace high-definition production, the most exciting thing to happen in television entertainment since black-and-white gave way to color broadcasts.”

The FAA’s current rules and proposed ban on flight over people, requirement of visual line of sight and restriction on nighttime flying, effectively prohibit broadcasters from using UAS for newsgathering. ~ WMUR-TV General Manager Jeff Bartlett